Reserve running back Carlos Hyde’s chances of seeing significant playing time again for Ohio State this Saturday against Indiana have been enhanced substantially by recent developments.

First there was the high-ankle sprain that backup Jordan Hall suffered on that kickoff return to set up OSU’s dramatic victory over Wisconsin late Saturday night. Insiders told The Dispatch today Hall’s status is questionable for Saturday, though there has been no public proclamation by coach Luke Fickell to that effect.

Then it was learned this afternoon that the other backup tailback Jaamal Berry has been suspended indefinitely by the team in the wake of his being charged with assault and disorderly conduct for an incident near the North Market in the early hours of Oct.21. Though Berry dressed for the Wisconsin game, he did not play, not even on the kickoff team where he had shared deep safety duties with Hall in previous games.

Interestingly, many OSU fans had voiced displeasure after the past two games in seeing Hyde relegated to third team and thus the bench behind newly reinstated starter Daniel “Boom” Herron -- he returned from a six-game suspension to start the season – and Hall. That’s because the power-running Hyde had a team-high 104 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown romp, in the last previous game, the loss at Nebraska.

Hyde tweeted his displeasure -- though quickly retracted -- about getting just three carries in a mop-up role late in the 17-7 win at Illinois two games ago. Whether that had anything to do with his not getting into last week’s game wasn’t clear.

“Patience patience patience patience,” is what the sophomore tweeted short time after OSU’s win over Wisconsin. He also tweeted “Huge win! Good job tonight Buckeyes!!”

In the pair-and-a-spare approach to the tailback positon, Hyde was seen as the spare the past two games. Now he’s part of the pair with Herron, while redshirt-freshman Rod Smith likely has moved back over from linebacker to provide the spare.